The curriculum for criminal justice majors is interdisciplinary in nature and includes courses that will provide students with the research and analytical skills necessary for understanding the nature of justice and the issues that affect its implementation. Majors may pursue either a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree.

Radford University Undergraduate Catalog

Please review the information about the Criminal Justice major presented in your undergraduate catalog, for your appropriate catalog year. While the following information is provided for reference, the official statement of undergraduate policies and curricula are contained in the Radford University Undergraduate Catalog (available online). Please review the catalog (for your catalog year!) and become familiar with its provisions!

Declaring a Criminal Justice Major

Beginning in the 2013-2014 catalog year, the following policy will apply for declaring a criminal justice major. During their first 45 credit hours, students will be designated as Criminal Justice Pre-Majors. In order to declare a criminal justice major, students must have completed at least 45 credit hours with a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.25.

To declare a criminal justice major, stop by the Criminal Justice Department office.

Four additional courses with a criminal justice (CRJU) prefix, for a total of 12 hours, are required. Please note that required courses (listed above), Independent Study (CRJU-498), and the Criminal Justice Internship (CRJU-484) do not satisfy the criminal justice elective requirement. Courses that count for the criminal justice elective requirement include:

CRJU-210, Juvenile Justice

CRJU-290, Seminar

CRJU-315, Constitutional Rights and the Criminally Accused

CRJU-320, Criminal Investigative Theory

CRJU-330, Deviant Sexual Behavior and Criminal Activity

CRJU-341, Introduction to Forensic Science

CRJU-345, Historical Perspectives on Criminal Justice

CRJU-350, Ethical and Moral Issues in Criminal Justice

CRJU-360, Criminal Law and Evidence

CRJU-380, Rural Crime and Law Enforcement

CRJU-382, Wildlife Crime and Conservation Enforcement

CRJU-412, Security Administration and Crime Prevention

CRJU-415, Emergency Management

CRJU-430, International Criminal Justice

CRJU-439, Community-Based Corrections\

CRJU-470, Criminal Justice Management

CRJU-481, Forensic Law

CRJU-438, Criminal Justice Experiential Learning

CRJU-490, Seminar (may be repeated for credit if topic varies)

Other Major Requirements
In addition to the courses listed above, criminal justice majors must complete the following additional requirements:

Grades in Major Courses: In order to graduate with a major in criminal justice, a letter grade of "C" or higher must be earned in all "CRJU" prefix courses. See the Undergraduate Catalog for the course repeat policy.

Related Requirements: Two courses should be selected from the following list:

Electives: Students should consult with their academic advisors in selecting elective courses to complete the 120 credit hours required for graduation.

Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science Requirements
Students must complete either a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Sciences degree in Criminal Justice. Requirements for each are listed below.

Bachelor of Arts: The Bachelor of Arts degree requires completion of the B.A. language requirements (see the Undergraduate Catalog). There are two options for completing the language requirements. Option 1 is for students with little to no foreign language background. Students are placed in a first-semester course by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures and may fulfill this requirement by taking the first three semesters (the first four in Spanish) of a foreign language for a total of 12 semester hours. Option 2 is for students with enough of a foreign language background to be placed beyond a first-semester course. Students may fulfill this requirement by completing two courses above the first eight hours of language instruction (above nine in Spanish) for a total of 6 to 8 semester hours. Please note the "Credit Granting Policy and Eligibility for Enrollment in Language Courses" as outlined in the Undergraduate Catalog. Also, be advised that courses used to meet core curriculum requirements may not also be used to satisfy the B.A. requirements.

Bachelor of Science: The Bachelor of Science requirements for criminal justice majors consist of 6 semester hours chosen from the following list of courses. See university policy regarding the use of credit to fulfill multiple requirements. Courses with asterisks (*) can be used for only one requirement, i.e., B.S., major, minor, option, or general education:

BLAW-203, Legal Environment of Business (3 credit hours)

COMS-114, Public Speaking (3 credit hours) *

COMS-314, Organizational Communication (3 credit hours)

COMS-332, Argumentation and Advocacy (3 credit hours)

COMS-333, Persuasion (3 credit hours)

COMS-400, Mass Media Law and Ethics (3 credit hours)

ECON-391, Law and Economics (3 credit hours)

GEOG-250, Introduction to GIS

HLTH-451, Drug Use and Drug Abuse Education (3 credit hours) *

ITEC-100, Introduction to Information Technology (3 credit hours) *

PHIL-112, Introduction: Ethics and Society (3 credit hours)

PHIL-113, Introduction: Reasoning and Argument (3 credit hours)

PHIL-310, Professional Ethics (3 credit hours)

PHIL-375, Philosophy of Law (3 credit hours)

PHIL-390, Ethical Theory (3 credit hours)

POSC-300, Public Administration (3 credit hours)

POSC-438, Constitutional Law - Government Powers (3 credit hours)

POSC-439, Constitutional Law - Civil Liberties (3 credit hours)

PSYC-218, Adolescent Psychology (3 credit hours)

PSYC-405, Forensic Psychology (3 credit hours) *

SOCY-333, Social and Cultural Diversity (3 credit hours)

SOCY-365, Society and the Individual (3 credit hours)

Transfer Students
Criminal justice courses offered by the community colleges may substitute for various courses in the criminal justice major at Radford. Students transferring credit should also note the "Transfer Credit" policies and the "Completing a Degree" requirements in the Undergraduate Catalog. No fewer than 45 semester hours must be earned at Radford University to be eligible for graduation. Thirty of the last 39 hours of credit required for the degree must be completed in residency. In addition, 50 percent of the semester hours required for a major or minor (as defined by the department) must be taken at Radford University and no more than six (6) credit hours of Independent Study coursework can be used toward graduation requirements.

Graduation Requirements
To graduate with a major in criminal justice, students must have completed the requirements listed above. In addition, students must have completed 120 credit hours. Finally, students must have an overall grade point average of 2.0 or higher and a grade point average of 2.0 or higher in all courses with a CRJU prefix (also, as described in section 3b above, criminal justice majors must earn a grade of "C" or higher in all courses with a CRJU prefix).

Students must submit an application for graduation, generally in the semester prior to their anticipated graduation. Further information about application for graduation is available from the College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences Advising Center.

Accelerated Program

The accelerated degree program was designed to provide exceptional undergraduate students a way to complete the requirements for both the bachelor's and master's degrees at an accelerated pace. Learn more about the requirements of the program.